Regional Head of IT - East Africa at Liquid Telecom

ROLE OVERVIEW

Reporting to the Regional CEO with a dotted line to the Group CIO, the EA Region Head of IT will manage the IT function within East Africa.

The incumbent will oversee timely delivery of all IT projects, within set budget and quality standard. He or she will be responsible for directing and managing the design, planning, coordination, implementation and maintenance of the existing and new technology to ensure that the region leads the Technology Industry in line with the set approved standards.

The EA Region Head of IT will supervise the IT Manager- Liquid Telecom Kenya IT Infrastructure and Desktop Technician Liquid Telecom Uganda; IT Support Liquid Telecom Tanzania; IT Support Liquid Telecom Rwanda & IT Support Zanlink.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Executive Business Engagement & Accountability
  • Developing the regional IT plan into operational execution plans, objectives and monitoring mechanisms to ensure that the plan is under execution while being closely monitored for success.
  • Managing various Opco IT priorities concurrently while delivering on the business as usual requirements of the region.
  • Operationalizing the complexities of the Regional IT operating model to focus on quarterly and annual objectives for EA.
  •  Gathering and managing IT Regional requirements and ensure these are represented in the Group IT plan as an active member of both Regional and Group IT management teams.
  •  Developing the necessary plans to ensure that the regional and OpCo IT teams meets agreed goals and objectives.
• Information Communications Technology & Digital Transformation Plan
  • Participating in the identification, developing and cascading down of the strategic plan for the Region within IT.
  • Driving IT innovation, value and performance through technology and operations governance
  • Identifying strategic partnerships to support the Information Technology Plan
  • Analyzing and identifying functional risks and security threats and developing mitigating plans to address these.
  • Contributing to the development of the consolidated Annual Operating Plan for IT in the Region,
  • Preparing the IT CAPEX and IT OPEX budget for the Regional IT Department and submits to the GCIO RCEO, and RCFO for approval
  • Monitoring the IT CAPEX and IT OPEX budget for the Regional IT Department monthly and submits a variance report to the GCIO and RCEO.
• IT Project Management
  • Coordination of the planning, development and execution of projects and their interdependencies by building integrated plans, communication plans, risk logs for all projects.
  • Effectively managing, communicating and ascertaining agreement on the project scope for IT Projects. Manage changes to the project scope throughput the project lifecycle.
  • Tracking and managing project requirements during the project lifecycle and incorporate changes to requirements through an established change management process
  • Developing and implementing the governance framework for all projects which include post implementation review for the region.
  • Ensuring all projects are managed and executed as per the EAR Project Management Methodology
  • Accurately identifying and escalating project risks, issues and any unresolved issues via the Project Escalation Channel.
• IT Service Development
  • Driving, developing and managing the IT architecture, products and services detailed below in conjunction with the Senior Manager, Service Development.
  • Ensuring the development of the IT Systems that drive and manage the business processes (such as billing) through EAR or through external partnerships.
  • Ensures solution quality assurance and checks are conducted prior to signing off IT Systems development and projects
  • Planning software release and changes to ensure IT System stability and align with the Business roll out, such as the launch of new products.
• IT Service Management and Operations
  • Driving adoption of the EAR IT architecture, products and services in line with the Customer experience and relationships.
  • Reviewing and managing the weekly systems availability, service usage/utilization/activity reports and performance reports and recommending interventions where necessary.
  • Ensuring that software and hardware capacity requirements are economically sound and are aligned to the business needs of EAR.
  • Engaging suppliers for the planning, designing, procurement and implementation of Information services applications, Service Level Agreements (SLA) is in line with policies and procedures;
  • Oversees the development and maintenance of Access Rights controls for Vendors on IT infrastructure.
• Information Security and Controls
  • Work with the Group Head of Information Security designs, develops, reviews and updates Information Security Policies, Processes and Systems which ensure the protection of the Customers’ electronic data.
  • Ensure compliance to the IT risk register, audit findings and takes appropriate action if there is non-adherence.
  • Implement and enforce IT Security Controls within the region.

QUALIFICATIONS

The ideal candidate must possess the following:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Information Systems or Equivalent
• MBA or Master’s Degree in ICT or Equivalent

EXPERIENCE

• 10-12 years’ Telecommunication or ICT experience.
• At least 8 years’ experience at a Senior Management Level in a Telecommunications or ICT field.

KNOWLEDGE AREAS

• Knowledge of IT Systems Architecture and Solutions, technology services management and operations.
• Knowledge of CRM data and database systems, information security and controls

SKILLS

• Ability to ensure the development of the IT Teams in the current and advanced technology skills to enable the achievement of Departmental goals and targets.
• Able to plan 3-5 years ahead and drill down to annual planning.
• Commercial acumen and demonstration a successful record of accomplishing goals.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Project management skills
• Ability to analyze and solve problems reaching a logical decision.
• Able to lead and manage the Technology Department, Partnerships, users and stakeholders in the understanding and application of the existing and new technology.

We would like to highly encourage all internal and external applicants who qualify to apply for this exciting opportunity to apply.